I’ve just returned from an ‘apartment viewing’. It has opened my eyes.
This is it: doesn’t look too bad, eh ? I had come to think, looking at it, that this kind of small apartment building could be my saving.
In fact it was impossible to tell quite what it looks like; for the current tenant, although physically absent, had left so much filth and mess and plates of half-eaten FOOD around that one could barely get from the doorway to the balcony, and I do not exaggerate !
I have never in my life seen such a revolting mess. Not ever: not any type of habitation: not anywhere. And this was what the agency was happy to show potential tenants through.
As well, I’m now convinced that the photos used on the ads to show what the places look like are taken with cameras on which lenses are added to elongate the rooms or the balconies: what I eventually managed to see by way of a balcony today was roughly a third the size I was expecting. (That it faces directly west was as I feared: never again will I take anywhere that faces west !)
Am I out of touch ? Is this all one can expect to be shown ? Do agents no longer accept any degree whatsoever of responsibility for ensuring that outgoers do their bit to ensure the next incomers can see what they’re applying for ?
It seems I am. Everything has changed: was it Covid ? Or am I simply a latter-day Rip van Winkle, and it’s been changing while I’ve been unaware ..?
Now RE companies insert statements into their ads (on the many and various search engines for real estate) that specifically deny any responsibility for the actuality’s turning out differently from what they’ve just told you ! So .. if they‘re not responsible for the contents of their own ads, who the fuck is ?!
Tomorrow I was booked to view a place that looks like me, in Werribee. Well, you know what I mean. It was I who called the agents yet again to ask why the viewing time was no longer showing on the ad: and they casually told me the unit had been leased. No-one had the slightest intention of letting me know; and I would’ve travelled from Melbourne to Werribee for nothing.
I may soon have an even more jaundiced eye than I have at this moment ..
DOWNUNDER WITH BOODZ 
Aaaargh, that all sounds seriously annoying. It’s the same here in the UK – they photograph everything with a wide-angle lens to make a tiny little hobbit-hole look like a mansion. Not helpful, and leaves you feeling disappointed when you actually go and view the place!
But as for the muck and litter, that’s just grim!
Wishing you much better luck in your property search. Px
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My dear Phil(ippa) !! (I feel I oughta address you as does you revered mama, de temps en temps, because I am not too much older than she, [grin])
You have no idea the pleasure it’s given me to find this comment from you. No, wait: I think you might.
Apart from the fact that I’m perversely pleased to know that my Pommy friends must suffer even as do I, so that we can roll our eyes together, I’m tickled pink to know that You Were Here – in the same way as we Aussies so loved being able to draw (badly) that ‘Foo was here’.
You are an excellent woman. XO
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The landlord would have taken the previous tenant’s bond M-R, but should have used it to have the unit cleaned. I suspect the landlord has pocketed the bond and left the unit for the next tenant to clean. It’s the fault of our lack of government interest in renters that the landlords have the power and can rely on enough tenants desperate for an affordable property to rent that they will clean up the mess & take the property.
In any case, you don’t want that sort of landlord! I’m sorry things are so bad in this country, our rental laws need an overhaul badly. I hope you find better at the next place you view! Keep looking and good luck!
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My constant whinge, Sue it should be part of the Tenancy Act that landlords MUST use bond monies retained to repair/clean what they were lifted for. End of.
I am not at all confident of the future: RE here in Melbourne is vile. Probably everywhere; and getting worse because governments do nothing about the lack of rentals.
Another load of washing just now: another two instances of the machines tripping the circuit-breakers.
:(
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This sounds truly awful M-R. Reminds me of when we were house hunting (as buyers not renters) and on viewing a house occupied by tenants the first thing we faced on going through the front door was the terrible stench of dog. The house was untidy to say the least and the occupier’s teenage son only vacated his bedroom on our arrival, so it too stank of sweaty teenage boy and stale air. A shame as the house itself was in a perfect location, but we were totally put off by the condition it was in. I do hope things improve for you, I don’t envy you having to move again, finding a decent rental property is so difficult. Here you often have to pay admin fees to apply with no guarantee of acceptance and no refund if you don’t get accepted! A money making racket!
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Oh Jude, I look back on the time I was still in the Pyrmont flat that had had all manner of delightful additions made by Stringer, with hopeless regret for the circumstances that combined to force me out of Sydney.
Admin fees ?? – for WHAT, pray ? Who allowed that setup to develop ?! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr ..
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I think there’s a complete lack of accountability in most sectors of life, M-R. I don’t think people care about anything but their own comforts. It is not just disgusting, as in what you found in filth, but disheartening that anyone in a position to rent that apartment would think to expose you to it! Disheartening and distressing. Both words!
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EXACTLY, Deb ! – that’s a sound opinion, put well. And boy, is it correct !!! :\
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Where have I been for 10 days that I missed seeing this post? Just sorting through my inbox and wondering if there’d been an update on your renting woes, and found this. Mea culpa yet again.
I remember years ago a friend sending me a list of real estate agent statements and their “real” meaning eg “sunny, cosy apartment” means “teeny west-facing box”, etc. Real estate hunting – renting or buying – is not for the faint-hearted. I wish you much luck. Meanwhile, I feel so sorry for your washing woes.
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There are things they should be required by law to state, starting with whether it’s ground floor or not and moving on to whether the place has washing-machine taps or not. I have found THE PLACE, Sue: but now follows the anxiety of trying everything to get it ..
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Oh, I will keep everything crossed for you, M-R! Real estate … so anxiety inducing.
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